As portable electronic devices become more compact, and the number of functions performed by a given device increase, it has become a significant challenge to design a user interface that allows users to easily interact with a multifunction device. This challenge is particular significant for handheld portable devices, which have much smaller screens than desktop or laptop computers. This situation is unfortunate because the user interface is the gateway through which users receive not only content but also responses to user actions or behaviors, including user attempts to access a device's features, tools, and functions.
Some portable communication devices (e.g., mobile telephones, sometimes called mobile phones, cell phones, cellular telephones, and the like) have resorted to adding more pushbuttons, increasing the density of pushbuttons, overloading the functions of the pushbuttons, or using complex menu systems to allow a user to access, store and manipulate data. These conventional user interfaces often result in complicated key sequences and menu hierarchies that must be memorized by the user.
Many conventional user interfaces, such as those that include physical pushbuttons, are also inflexible. This is unfortunate because it may prevent a user interface from being configured and/or adapted by either an application running on the portable device or by users. When coupled with the time consuming requirement to memorize multiple key sequences and menu hierarchies, and the difficulty in activating a desired pushbutton, such inflexibility is frustrating to most users.
Portable device-based Instant Messaging (IM) services are becoming increasingly popular. But most IM services on portable electronic devices have a rudimentary user interface. It is cumbersome to create instant messages on such devices. A user often needs to press a telephone keypad repeatedly to choose a character. It is also difficult to find and view previous instant messages. For example, it is inconvenient or even impossible for the user to view a series of previous messages with a particular user while composing a new message for that user.
Accordingly, there is a need for portable multifunction devices with more transparent and intuitive user interfaces for instant messaging that are easy to use, configure, and/or adapt.